author
Auguste Rodin
1840–1917
A towering figure in modern sculpture, this French artist gave bronze and marble an unusual sense of movement, emotion, and inner life. His best-known works, including The Thinker and The Kiss, remain some of the most recognizable sculptures in the world.
2 Audiobooks
Art
by Auguste Rodin
Venus. To the Venus of Melos
by Auguste Rodin
About the author
Born in Paris on November 12, 1840, Auguste Rodin grew up in modest circumstances and trained in drawing and decorative arts before slowly finding his way as a sculptor. His path was anything but smooth: early rejections and years of commercial work delayed his rise, but they also sharpened the intense realism and physical power that would define his art.
Rodin is widely regarded as a founder of modern sculpture. Instead of aiming for polished perfection, he brought rough surfaces, strong gestures, and emotional tension into works such as The Thinker, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell. His art often stirred controversy in his own time, yet it changed how sculpture could represent the human body and inner feeling.
He died on November 17, 1917, in Meudon, France. Before his death, he left his works, archives, and rights to the French state, helping secure his legacy through the Musée Rodin, which has cared for and shared his work since 1919.